comfort food
by sweet sweet heartkiller
Summary: go-onger & kiva / when i am alone, there is something missing. - post-series spoilers for both.


**comfort food**_  
>this kind of feeling i want to forget, but can't ... what do you call it?<em>  
>engine sentai go-onger &amp; kamen rider kiva | sakiwataru | wordcount: 979

ever since my last uploaded fic a while ago, i've gotten myself really heavy into tokusatsu. these two series are my favorites from each respective franchise, and for some reason, this pairing just seemed to work for me ...

( characters not mine, etc. )

――

Wataru didn't even know how he ended up in this little shop. Everything that had happened after Nago and Megumi's wedding was a bit of a ... well, okay, it wasn't so much 'bit of a blur' as it was '_tremendous_ mess', but it was a mess that left him completely fuzzy on the details. All he remembered after the happy couple had kissed was that boy rushing down the altar, and the ships in the sky when they had followed him outside, and ...

He sighed, face buried in his palms as he slumped down defeatedly into the table. He couldn't write it off as simply a dream, he most vividly remembered transforming into Kiva alongside the others ( and was still partially reeling from the post-transformation buzz that usually occurred. ) _Just when I thought things would be simpler from now on, something just has to happen to upset the balance, doesn't it?_ The thought of a whole new threat to contend with, one that had as much potential to tear his friends and family apart, that right now wasn't ...

"Here you are, sir!" a young woman's voice rang out, sweet and perky and slicing through the negativity clouding in his head. "One serving of petits fours, and green tea with mint~!"

Wataru looked up as she set the dishes onto the table with a delicate _clink_. This woman - a very pretty one at that, with long raven hair and a warm smile on her face - seemed to be running this shop all by herself, but even with the high volume of traffic there was today she certainly didn't look any worse off for it. However, once her eyes locked onto his that smile faded slightly, as if something had just occurred to her.

"Oh ... is something the matter? You look like you've had the wind knocked out of your sails, there." She took a seat beside him, her tone shifting from 'chirpy' to 'motherly'. He glanced around, hoping that this wouldn't impede her work, and once he reassured himself that wasn't so he hung his head.

"I'm kind of in a bad situation," he began, trying to stay deliberately vague so as to not make her run screaming for cover if she were to find out. "I _thought_ I had managed to get things sorted out between myself and my family, and everything was going good, but then ... _something_ happened, and now I'm not so sure anymore." His face burned in what was probably shame; he tried to distract himself by popping one of his tiny cakes into his mouth, to keep from blurting out something more upsetting.

The woman watched him sympathetically, biting her lip in contemplation - had she experienced this kind of thing before? "I know it looks bad right now ... mm, but, I think the best thing you can do for yourself is to stay optimistic!" she offered, grinning broadly at him once more. "If you managed to fix things before, then this should be a piece of cake, right?" She giggled. "Um, no pun intended, heh heh."

Wataru shook his head, but cracked the smallest of smiles at her advice. "I'm not sure it's going to be _that_ easy. This is one of those things that ... that I'm probably going to have to fight for, you know? It's not something that I can just fix through optimism alone."

"And that's fine! Not everything will be. But," she continued, "the main thing is, you've probably got a whooooole big network of friends standing behind you no matter what, right? You said your big problem before was with your family, so now that everything is good between you all they'll be with you 100% of the way!" She took his hand and looked straight at him with twinkling eyes. "You've gotta have a strong heart and a strong bond with others if you want to overcome the bad things in life. That's something I learned a long time ago."

_So I was right, she did have this kind of problem as well ..._ Wataru wondered, eyes cast downward to his hand in hers. It was warm and soft, and smelled faintly of powdered sugar. _But ... I guess that really is important, isn't it? I don't know how I could have lost sight of that ..._

"But above all -" she pulled her hand away, only to take his face in both hands and squish his cheeks comically - "_smile, smile!_"

"Ah!" Wataru cried out, but the movement was so sudden that he couldn't help but let his grin spread wider than it was before. If that pep talk hadn't completely lifted his spirits, then this certainly finished the job.

She laughed heartily at his response, getting up from her seat. "I'm glad you're feeling a little better now. Hey, stop by again if you ever want to vent, all right? Or~ if you just want to come for more cake, that's fine too!"

He nodded. "Um ... sure! Thank you, I definitely will, Miss ..."

"Saki! The 'Miss' really isn't necessary." She waved a hand, and was about to say something more to that effect before something in the kitchen caught her eye. Wataru tried to speak, but she had darted off before he could follow through.

The tea she had served for him was cooling down, and he picked it up to sip as he gazed out the shop window. He'd have to write down the directions to this place before he left - there was something intriguing about her, like she had some sort of built-in calming effect that radiated whenever someone was having a bad day. It made Wataru feel more ... well, optimistic, that's what she would have wanted, but there was something more to it, as well ...

_... and her cakes are pretty good, too._ He picked up another petit four and scarfed it down with gusto.


End file.
